More Mercury....

Thanks to DJ Martian for, as usual, being the most comprehensive person on the web and constructing this list of albums eligible for the prize (if their respective record labels have put up the cash to enter them of course).

http://rateyourmusic.com/list/djmartian/mercury_music_prize_2007_eligibility

I missed the outstanding Finn Peters and Tom Arthurs albums out of my list of jazz contenders and it also strikes me that Julie Fowlis must be an almost dead cert if there's a token folk nomination. I hadn't realised that the outstanding guitarist and composer James Blackshaw was British - that would be a wonderful selection, as would Ryan Teague's excellent Coins and Crosses which sadly passed me by last September. I'd completely forgotten Acoustic Ladyland's Skinny Grin, a real possibility given that the judges ignored the far superior Last Chance Disco last year in favour of Polar Bear's excellent but, at the time, less well known Held On The Tips Of Fingers album. If they look to recognise the achievement of Seb Rochford again - there's also Fulborn Teversham as well. They're also bound to nominate the ludicrously overrated New Young Pony Club and Simian Mobile Disco too I suspect, particularly as those albums are still so fresh in the mind.

DJ Martian also includes The Tuss, the mysterious act which may or may not actually be the Aphex Twin. Is this a full length album or an EP? I've not picked it up yet - note to self that I must do so ASAP. I also had no idea that Xela were a British act - The Dead Sea is outstanding! Looking at this list DJ Martian has so carefully compiled, it's clear that British music really is incredibly healthy at the moment - it's just that our beloved music critics, who are paid to sort the wheat from the chaff, simply have no idea where to look right now!

Anyway, within about half an hour, we'll know the shortlist.